"One December evening, a woman left work and boarded a bus for home. She was tired; her feet ached. But this was Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, and as the bus became crowded, the woman, a black woman, was ordered to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she remained seated, that simple decision eventually led to the disintegration of institutionalized segregation in the South, ushering in a new era of the civil rights movement."

Yeah, a real shame. I worked at the SPLC(www.splcenter.org) for a while and they had a lot (and I mean A LOT!) of dealings/ programs with Parks. She only visited the Center once while I worked there, but she prefaced a video documentary on Emmett Till. (If you are unfamiliar with this story, I suggest checking it out. It is an integral part of the overall tale of the black struggle.)She was simply amazing. I didn't get to meet her, but she introduced the video with such elegance and probity that it's hard to believe just these few short years later she succombed to old age. But, unfortunately, I suppose time takes its tol on all. Last I read of her, she was battling dementia and fincially being taken advantage of by those who were responsible for her well-being.

Doesn't it just boggle your mind that it took the 'land of the free, home of the brave' so long to begin abiding by the 'all men are created equal bit'? And that the 'fuse', so to speak, was started by a young woman who was tired from work, and tired of moving for ignorant white men.

A decade later, and someone like Reggie Jackson still could not eat at certain restaurants with his minor league teammates.

Is it me, or the whole "freedom" and "equality" propaganda branded by the U.S. turns out to be in many cases a hypocrisy. I know this nation has given more freedom to people than many other nations, but through all history we have still have failed to stand up for the principles that we preach for.

How can a nation that apparently stands for "justice for all" keep an ethnic group suffering almost 100 years of slavery and another 100 years under segregation.

Also I feel like the educational system is so fucked up in terms of hiding a lot of truth from the kids, and not telling them why the founding fathers didn't abolish slavery from the beginning, and why were a great majority of native Americans slaughtered and having their land stolen.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Brandon wrote: [/QUOTENAME]... and now the "best you can offer is Mr. Jingles? HA! He's... just pathetic.[/QUOTE]

I know she wasn't just 'tired', but 'tired of giving in', and it wasn't the first time she'd been asked to move by the same individual.

She also wasn't the first to refuse, but was a better representative to rally around. MLK's organized boycott was a stroke of genious.

I'd assume that most know that she was also robbed in her home in the 90s. The thug got a whole $53...and a nice jail term.

'All men are created equal'. Well, we're getting there, and will, in spite of the radical right. I mean, it only took us around 150 years to give women the right to vote, and another 40 years for all to have that right.

Is it me, or the whole "freedom" and "equality" propaganda branded by the U.S. turns out to be in many cases a hypocrisy. I know this nation has given more freedom to people than many other nations, but through all history we have still have failed to stand up for the principles that we preach for.

How can a nation that apparently stands for "justice for all" keep an ethnic group suffering almost 100 years of slavery and another 100 years under segregation.

Also I feel like the educational system is so fucked up in terms of hiding a lot of truth from the kids, and not telling them why the founding fathers didn't abolish slavery from the beginning, and why were a great majority of native Americans slaughtered and having their land stolen.

A) No other country had an economy that was dependent upon the existence of slavery.

B) This economy naturally begets prejudice, segregation, and all that juicy fun stuff, just as social classes have in the past.

It's easy to see how it happened. It's by no means a good thing, but hey, at least we can trace it.

C) I learned the truth. You learned the truth. What's wrong with the education system? Even without learning the truth, I really don't think it's that important to know. I can't see how it would benefit us; we can't learn everything, so why not learn what we do?